longer. >> pelley: ben tracy in los angeles on the danger to america's coasts. and retiring the enterprise. david martin on the biggest battle the warship ever fought, a battle for survival. >> we had to do what we had to do. we had to save the ship. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. the u.s. economy is looking significantly stronger tonight than it of did just a short while ago. have a look. the government revised its estimate of third quarter growth from 2% to 2.7. that means the economy was growing more than twice as fast in the third quarter as it was in the second when growth was just 1.3%. so, are we turning a corner or is this a one-quarter wonder? we asked anthony mason to find out. >> reporter: business is looking rosy at the internet retailer wine.com.

new york general manager chris boone is expecting a strong holiday season. in from thanksgiving on, we've got our running shoes on, and we're running and hustling. >> reporter: wine.com just had a huge third quarter. sales jumped 15%, and the company recently expanded into a new warehouse. >> the old warehouse we had was 15,000 square feet. this current one is 30,000. it's great for us, it's great for business, and i'm happy to ae the growth. >> reporter: across the u.s., economic signals are improving. pending home sales, which track contract signings, jumped to their highest level in six years. another sign the housing recovery is building. does that mean the housing market can actually start contributing to economic growth again? >> it already is. it already is. and that should help jobs. and you have feedback effects that, you know, should ripple through the economy. >> reporter: economist michael darda, believes housing will be one of the pilles after an improving economy in 2013. >> that's helping consumer

confidence. that's helping banks. the fed adding stimulus. i think next year is going to be a pretty good year. >> reporter: a pretty good year, darda says, if washington can avoid the automatic tax increases and federal budget cuts that are scheduled to kick in at the end of this year. the holiday shopping season has gotten off to a strong start, but economists expect fourth- quarter growth will be weakener part due to the impact of hurricane sandy. >> pelley: thanks, anthony. so can washington make a deal on the budget and avoid those tax increases? we're getting our first look tonight at president obama's proposal and the republican reaction. major garrett is at the white house for us tonight. major. >> reporter: scott, the first hard numbers from the white house to resolve the fiscal cliff crisis landed with a thud on capitol hill. congressional republicans called it an insulting joke. here's the big picture-- $4 trillion of deficit reduction over the next 10 years. it includes $1.6 trillion in higher taxes on households make manage more than $250,000. there's also $400 billion in

cuts to entitlement programs, like medicaid and medicare, as well as others. there is also fresh new aending. $50 billion next year in stimulus spending, all for infrastructure. the white house calls this an opening bid. house republicans call it a rehash of old ideas and also object to the idea of a white house asking a permanent legislative remedy to raising the debt ceiling, all of it, the republicans say rather, is unacceptable. now much of this was conveyed in a 28-minute phone conversation yesterday between president obama and house speaker john boehner. both sides describe that conversation, scott, as direct and candid. those are words custom early reserved for diplomacy between sworn adversaries and tonight that might be where we are. >> pelley: major, thanks very much. now, have a look at these two pictures. president obama and mitt romney at the final debate, the last time they shook hands, until today, when the president hosted a kind of "bury the hatchet" lunch at the white house. the two men promised to work together on shared concerns if the opportunity arises.

the united nations voted overwhelmingly this afternoon to recognize the palestinian territories as a state. something palestinians have as a sight. something palestinians have sought for generations, but a diplomatic setback for the u.s. and israel. th the territories on the west bank, the jordan river, and along the gaza strip are home to palestinians displaced by the war that created israel in 1948. today's vote doesn't create an independent palestine. that would have to come in negotiations with israel. jim axelrod is at the u.n. for us tonight. jim. >> reporter: well, scott, the palestinian authority become just the second non-member state designated by the united nations. the vatican is the other. the palestinians are viewing this elevation of status as an historic step, just to have any kind of recognition of statehood. palestinian authority president

mahmoud abbas, who was also the first palestinian authority prime minister, rejected last- minute appeals from the united states to reconsider his push for this recognition. >> ( translated ): the united nations general assembly is called upon today to issue the birth certificate of the reality of the state of palestine. >> reporter: now, we are not talking about full status as united nations member nation. that would require the approval of the security council, and the united states has already promised to veto that. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton, scott, is calling today's vote counter-productive and unfortunate and places further obstacles in the path to peace. >> pelley: jim, thank you. our alan pizzey was in the west bank when word of the vote came through. ( cheering ) >> reporter: the celebration said everything about how much the vote meant to palestinians.

observer status is still a long way from full member at the u.n. but scenes from ramaula's yasser arafat square, it's a huge step porward. according to longtime peace negotiator hannan ashrawi, today was all about recognition. >> getting state status is what empowers the palestinians, what defines our territory as occupied, what defines our relationship regionally and with the rest of the world, and what gives us access to international organizations and agencies. >> reporter: the israelis fear that the palestinians will use their new status to take israel to the international criminal court on charges of war crimes in gaza and elsewhere, which is why they and the u.s. fought against it. the reality is that little will change in the short term. the palestinian territory is still a patchwork, defined and controlled by israel. there is no seaport or oternational airport. israel restricts where palestinians may work and travel lnd controls the economy here by controlling access to markets.

are you more hopeful now than you have ever been in the past or would that be asking too much? >> that would be asking too much. the situation is it extremely painful and extremely precarious. >> reporter: 65 years ago today the u.n. voted to form two separate states here but arabs rejected the plan. since then, there have been four major wars and countless other bloody conflicts. the people in the square behind me know the u.n. vote won't bring any kind of durable peace, nevermind independence, but for the moment, palestinians celebrate a rare victory of diplomacy over violence. alan pizzey, cbs news, ramallah. >> pelley: today we heard for the first time from the army private charged in one of the biggest security breaches in u.s. history. bradley manning told a military court today that he was treated so badly after his arrest in baghdad, that he thought he would die. manning is charged with sending thousands of classified documents to wikileaks, a web site that posted them online.

if convicted, manning could face life in prison. the west coast is bracing tonight for some unusual rough weather, a series of storms blowing in from the pacific. there could be as much as 14 inches of rain in california. ifd carter evans is in forest hill tonight. carter. >> reporter: scott, meteorologists call storms like this a pineapple express. you could think of it as a river of moisture in the sky. bringing waves of torrential rain from hawaii to the west coast. california's coast is already being pounded by waves as high ho 15 feet. heavy rain brought freeway traffic to a standstill. utility workers are cutting trees and clearing storm drains preparing for up to a foot of rain. some areas could see four months' worth of rain fall in four days. the biggest concerns are hillsides like this, burned bare by the summer wildfires. flash floods are likely along

the west coast. the ground is already saturated from the first round of this formidable storm. and that could be a big problem when the second storm hits in force tonight, and there will be little time to recover before the third and perhaps most powerful storm hits on sunday. scott. >> pelley: carter, thank you. speaking of climate, we got surprising world today that polar ice is melting three times more rapidly now than it was in the 1990s. that in a report in the journal "science." we asked ben tracey and our los angeles bureau to tell us what that will mean to the rise of the seas. >> reporter: the researchers, including nasa scientists, say antarctica and greenland have lost nearly five trillion tons of ice since 1992, causing sea levels to rise by nearly half an inch. >> we didn't really know that we were going to find such a dramatic speed-up. >> reporter: nasa's erik ivins worked on the study.

scientists say human activity, such as burning fossil fuels, is warming the atmosphere. >> each year, we're getting longer and longer melt seasons. this year, we had one of the longest melt seasons that we've ever seen. >> reporter: melting ice sheets now account for 30% of the rise in ocean levels, making flooding from storms such as hurricane sandy even more destructive. along the california coast, the ocean is expected to rise another three to five feet by the end of the century. 3.5 million confidential californians live within three feet of sea level. >> eventually, we will be consumed by higher elevation of the ocean. >> reporter: jefferson wagner is the former mayor of malibu. he said some beaches there have lost five to six feet of sand in recent years due to stronger storms and higher tides. >> these things are happening. we have to realize that it's happening. we're seeing it here. there's no denying it any longer. >> reporter: two years ago,

wealthy homeowners along malibu's broad beach, put up this eight-foot-high rock wall to protect their homes. >> it's just a matter of time until the sand is taken away from underneath this reventment, and the rocks simply start to collapse. >> reporter: the california coastal commission is strongly encouraging all coastal communities to have a plan in place to deal with rising sea levels. ben tracy, cbs news, los angeles. >> pelley: small business openers say the president's tax plan will hurt them and their workers. former president george h.w. bush is in the hospital. and one cop's amazing act of kindness when the cbs evening news continues. bone fractures osteoporosis-reld and low magnesium levels have been seen with nexium. possible side effects include headache, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. other serious stomach conditions may still exist. talk to your doctor about nexium.

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and i'm gonna track them online, too. nice. between those boxes and this place, i'm totally staying sane this year. do i smell snickerdoodles? maybe. [ timer dings ] gotta go. [ male announcer ] priority mail flat rate boxes. online pricing starts at $5.15. only from the postal service. >> pelley: we'd like to g >> pelley: we'd like to give you a closer look now at one of the key sticking points in those negotiations over the federal budget. president obama's insistence that any deal include higher tax rates for high-income earners. we asked wyatt andrews to tell us how that might affect small businesses. >> so we need a couple of boxes for these. >> reporter: kevin green owns two flower and gift shops in alexandria, virginia, and he says raising taxes on the wealthy won't just hurt him. it will hurt his workers and the economy. >> all you do is reduce the capital available for investment and employment. >> reporter: small business owners typically report business income on their personal taxes. in a good year, green's income will exceed $250,000, making him one of the taxpayers the

president says should pay more. in his case, an estimated $8,000 more. what's the economic downside to asking eight more thousand dollars for you? >> i don't have $8,000 to spend on those employees or that inventory or the business that draws customers. >> reporter: by congressional estimates there are some 941,000 high-income small businesses. the president says that number includes truly rich small firms like hedge funds, but when republicans argue that higher taxes mean slow growth, they're thinking about businesses like utvin green's. >> it will hurt small businesses. it will hurt our economy. that's why it's not the right approach. >> reporter: but there are other high-end, small-business owners who do not think a tax hike of aound 3% will make much difference. >> this is a french roast-- >> joe ragan, who sells roasted

coffee and supplies to thousands of offices around washington says he will add or subtract to his workforce, based on sales, not on taxes. if your taxes were to go up as the president suggests, would that make any difference in the number of people you hire? >> no. now, look-- and i'm not-- i don't want to take a position here that says i'm not affected by this. i certainly am. but i'm affected by the opportunities that are presented to me. not by the fact that i'm going to make 3% less on that opportunity. >> reporter: in the fiscal cliff negotiations, republicans still argue that higher taxes will hurt small business jobs. but, scott, democrats up here argue that this debate is over. that raising taxes on the wealthiest americans of all kinds was decisively approved by the voters in the election. >> pelley: wyatt, thank you. yarmer president george h.w. bush is in a houston hospital tonight being treated for bronchitis. the hospital told us it's not

life threatening. mr. bush is 88 and was last seen at the white house in may for the unveiling of his son's onrtrait. millions were disappointed, but dere were some winners in that big powerball drawing. that story is next. copd makes it hard to breathe, but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day.

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>> pelley: that >> pelley: that powerball hckpot hit nearly $588 million 58 the time the numbers were drawn last night. there are two winning tickets, one was sold at a gas station in dearborn, missouri, north of kansas city. the other at a store outside phoenix. we don't know who won, but each ticket is worth about $135 million after taxes. now, we want to show you a picture that has gone viral. more than 400,000 facebook users have liked it, and, frankly, we liked it, too. this is new york city police officer larry deprimo with a

homeless man he found bare foot one cold november night. deprimo, 25 years old, with two orars on the force, used his own money to buy the man a pair of all-weather boots and thermal socks. a tourist snapped the picture and our john miller talked to officer deprimo today. >> i went up to him and i said, "buddy, where are your socks? where are your shoes? and he's like, "it's okay, officer, i never had a pair of shoes." and it took me back a few. >> reporter: people just don't do this kind of thing because it occurred to them out of a bolt of lightning. you're a father or your mother said something to you a long time ago that you've carried with you. do you know what that is? >> the true inspiration was my grandfather, and he told me when i was much younger, if you're going to do something, do it 100%. and do it or don't do it at all. and i think that stuck with me my entire life. >> pelley: john miller will have more of his interview with officer diprimeau first thing tomorrow on "cbs this morning." one of america's greatest warships was almost lost.

we'll meet the men who saved it next. to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function starting within five minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better. and that means...fish on! symbicort is for copd including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. with copd, i thought i'd miss our family tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. and that makes a difference in my breathing. today, we're ready for whatever swims our way. ask your doctor about symbicort. i got my first prescription free.

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during public meetings. nexn cbs 5 paul toss roberta paul toss on saturday, a legendary naval veteran will retire after a half century of service. the uss enterprise was the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and traveled the world in war and in peace. but david martin tells us we once nearly lost this ship known as the "big e. >> reporter: in five decades, as one of the most powerful warships on the sea, the enterprise's moment of greatest peril came one morning in 1969. it was a final battlefield before heading for vietnam. michael carlin was a 21-year- old sailor getting a deck full of f-4 phantom fighters ready to launch. >> on each f-4 phantom, there were eight 5" rockets and six 500-pound bombs.

>> reporter: the exhaust from a service vehicle overheated the fuse on one of those rockets, touching off what one sailor called "the vortex of hell." all of it was recorded in silent horror by a deck camera. >> we had eight rockets go off in the first 20 seconds. >> reporter: shrapnel from the rockets tore across the deck, mowing down sailors and puncturing the fuel tanks of the f-4's, each one of them loaded with 9 tons of jet fuel. then it got worse. >> now the bombs started going off. and that was a totally different ballgame there. >> reporter: so first it's rockets, then it's the 500- pound bombs. >> yes, going off in multiples. >> reporter: what at the time was the largest warship in the world became a very small place. >> stuff getting blown all the way up on the bow. >> reporter: four football fields away up there.

>> yeah. >> reporter: the silent video did not capture the deafening percussions of bombs going off. >> even in between the detonations, it's just the fire itself, it's just sort of all- consuming roar. >> reporter: michael neville all of 18 years old was trying to unload bombs and push them over the side before they went off. then he manned a hose to fight the fire. that's out of the frying pan into the fire. >> you know, we had to do what we had too do. we had to save the ship. >> reporter: they did, barely. fifteen aircraft had been reduced to smoking hulks. holes had been blown through the 2.5" armor plate of the deck, sending cascades of burning jet fuel onto the decks below. twenty-eight crewmen were dead, more than 300 wounded. the enterprise returned to pearl harbor bearing wounds no enemy has ever been able to inflict. but after 51 days in the shipyard -- >> we went on to vietnam and did what we had to do. and, i mean, she just got right back in the fight.

>> reporter: the great deck is empty now, the fire hoses neatly coiled. the "big e," as it is called, is being taken out of service. the sailors who manned these decks have come to say a final good-bye to the ship which never gave up. david martin, cbs news, aboard the uss enterprise in norfolk, virginia. >> and that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night. good evening, i'm allen martin. >> i'm dana king. the bay area is bracing for the next round of heavy rain and high winds. tonight's showers started to come down in parts of the bay area and we got this video from los gatos in the past hour. new flood watches and warnings are now in effect. >> among the many problems crews are standing by to tackle, fallen trees like this. this is on virginia avenue in bernal heights in san francisco.

the treetopled into a backyard. the home we are told was not damaged. >> we have team coverage on this next round of heavy rain beginning with chief meteorologist paul deanno. >> that rain will pick up in coverage and intensity. cbs 5 hi-def doppler is showing heavy rainfall already in the north bay and it's going to spread everywhere throughout the bay area as the evening progresses and especially for that morning commute tomorrow. plan on taking about twice as long to get to work tomorrow. light to moderate rainfall at the bay bridge. new moderate rainfall in marin county. watch out san rafael and 16. the rain is picking up over the next couple of